Peg Plunkett (Mrs. Leeson) (C. 1740-1797)

PEG PLUNKETT (MRS. LEESON) (C. 1740-1797) VICE-QUEEN OF GEORGIAN DUBLIN Christmas 1794 was a distinctly uncomfortable time for a large number of the well-to-do men who frequented Georgian Dublin. The word was out that Mrs. Leeson, long regarded as the city’s foremost...
William Whitelocke-Lloyd: The Irishman who Sketched the Zulu War

William Whitelocke-Lloyd: The Irishman who Sketched the Zulu War

The story of an independent spirit from County Waterford who was kicked out of Oxford for partying too noisily, and found himself painting the horrors of the Anglo-Zulu War while serving with the the 24th Foot in the time of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, plus the...
Hermione, Duchess of Leinster (1864-1895)

Hermione, Duchess of Leinster (1864-1895)

Hermione’s story forms the heart of an epic book by Terence Dooley, ‘The Decline and Fall of the Dukes of Leinster 1872-1948,’ which examines the lives of three dukes who succeeded in turn to the miscellaneous lands and titles of the FitzGerald family, including...
Kick Kennedy, the Marquess & the Earl

Kick Kennedy, the Marquess & the Earl

On 13 May 1948, a plane crash in southern France ended the life of both Kick Kennedy, oldest sister of Jack and Bobby, and her lover, Peter, Earl Fitzwilliam. This story recounts the series of events that led up to the tragedy, including Kick's marriage to the Duke of...
Mary Spring Rice (1880-1924)

Mary Spring Rice (1880-1924)

During her all too short life, Lord Monteagle's remarkable daughter sailed out with the Childers on Asgard on that extraordinarily audacious gun-run in 1914 and, during the War of Independence, she made her mark by offering indispensable first aid lessons to nurses...